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skyline @ night

funny enough, jomonkl set up an almost exact picture here but while he looks for advice on framing, I am looking for help on exposure.

how would u advice fixing this image? I am not happy with the colors - the skies a re too bright and the logos on the buildings are also too shinny, the Maybank logo (the yellow one) for example is overexposed.

If you got some tips on composition you're welcome, but I'm not really interested in that. Its the settings that I'm after.

Re: skyline @ night

In order to improve this picture i would change your settings , as the high f number leads to diffraction and loss of sharpness this also increases the chance of burnout . I would normally use iso 100 aperture priority f11

This would give you a shorter exposure time and would help to reduce the burn out. I think you should also consider taking the photo earlier before the sky turns black . This picture looks better at 7:15pm

In fact, don't you think f/25 is kind of overkill? It forced you to push your ISO up to 400.

The exact same photograph (well alamost) as above can be obtained with f/16, 20s, ISO 200. Still within the shutter range of the camera, no shutter release required.

Thanks, I'd try those settings.

Originally Posted by Expat yorkshire

.....This would give you a shorter exposure time and would help to reduce the burn out. I think you should also consider taking the photo earlier before the sky turns black . This picture looks better at 7:15pm

Thanks, the only issue I got with your advice is the time - as I was with my wife, our visiting hours were more strict, so couldn't be there earlier than 9+, still I believe the same colors could be achieved at this hour?

Re: skyline @ night

Originally Posted by jazzcool

hmmm.. okay.
Have to go there alone I guess.
Thanks

I think to achieve the blue skies you have to be there about 20-30 minutes before the sun sets, and be ready to shoot. You can google the sun set timing for that particular day prior to your shoot. It is okay, many of us start from shooting at night, realising that the colours and the buildings are "not nice enough".

Generally, I use f/13 or f/16 for landscape shots like this. Please don't go away thinking that the smaller the aperture, the sharper your image will be. Aperture too small eg your f/25 will introduce diffraction, this will cause your image to be not as sharp as u wanted it to be.

Re: skyline @ night

Just wondering - where were you focusing on when you took the pic? It looks very blurred throughout. I'm thinking diffraction doesn't really look THAT bad and given f/25, it should give you a sharp focus already but this one really looks blur.

Re: skyline @ night

Originally Posted by wildcat

Just wondering - where were you focusing on when you took the pic? It looks very blurred throughout. I'm thinking diffraction doesn't really look THAT bad and given f/25, it should give you a sharp focus already but this one really looks blur.

Or did you move your camera a bit during the 25sec of exposure?

i think it's handshake blur if you look closely at the left of the frame. the building (is it the sail?) looks like it shifted

Re: skyline @ night

Originally Posted by wildcat

Just wondering - where were you focusing on when you took the pic? It looks very blurred throughout. I'm thinking diffraction doesn't really look THAT bad and given f/25, it should give you a sharp focus already but this one really looks blur.
Or did you move your camera a bit during the 25sec of exposure?

Originally Posted by kei1309

i think it's handshake blur if you look closely at the left of the frame. the building (is it the sail?) looks like it shifted

Originally Posted by Diluted

use tripod oso can have handshake??

most likely tripod not stable enough??

no camera movements, used tripod. unless there was a slight earthquake that I did not notice
the blur is overexposure and f-stop settings.
I'd give it another go once I get the chance to get there again.

Re: skyline @ night

Originally Posted by jazzcool

no camera movements, used tripod. unless there was a slight earthquake that I did not notice
the blur is overexposure and f-stop settings.
I'd give it another go once I get the chance to get there again.

there might still be camera movements although you were using a tripod..
your tripod might not be stable enough.. some wind might have caused your camera to shake a little..

Re: skyline @ night

there are other reasons for camera shake even when the camera's on a tripod.

Originally Posted by jazzcool

no camera movements, used tripod. unless there was a slight earthquake that I did not notice
the blur is overexposure and f-stop settings.
I'd give it another go once I get the chance to get there again.

even if you're on a concrete path. if someone happened to jog by behind, there'll be blur induced by shake. but it'll be slight. shooting at f25 induces diffraction which causes your images to look softer (which is seen), but not blurred. also, depressing the shutter release can induce shake.

also.. since you're using long exposure, there's no need to crank it up to ISO400. 100 or 200 will work fine. your images will also be sharper if you've used the mid-range of f-stop your lens can achieve, and that's usually within f8 to f16. and your shutter speed won't need to be that long.

OT a little: with regards to composition, your horizon's slanted to the right.

Re: skyline @ night

Originally Posted by Expat yorkshire

In order to improve this picture i would change your settings , as the high f number leads to diffraction and loss of sharpness this also increases the chance of burnout . I would normally use iso 100 aperture priority f11

This would give you a shorter exposure time and would help to reduce the burn out. I think you should also consider taking the photo earlier before the sky turns black . This picture looks better at 7:15pm

I really like the effect of "Singapore Merlion" in your photo stream. It has a really nice dreamy and fantastic DOF. Would it be convenient for you to share whether you used ND filter and which PP steps you did to achieve the desired effect?

Yet with some newer lens models you do not need to turn IS off:
And some more info here:

In 2000 Canon released the next generation IS professional lenses. These lenses feature a "tripod-detection" mode which means that there is no problem using IS on a tripod. Even more than that - IS will correct vibrations caused by the mirror operations of the camera. So far the feature is available on the following lenses.